Tennyson's In Memoriam

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Tennyson's In Memoriam
In Memoriam is an elegy to Tennyson's friend Arthur Hallam, but bears the hallmark of its mid nineteenth century context, 'the locus classicus of the science-and-religion debate.'Upon reflection, Hallam's tragic death has proved to be an event that provoked Tennyson's embarkation upon a much more ambitious poetic project than conventional Miltonian elegy, involving meditation upon the profoundest questions faced by mankind. Scientific advancements, most notably in the fields of geology and biology, challenged the beliefs that form the foundation of Christianity: the belief in a beneficent God responsible for creation and ensuing superintendence and the belief in man's immortal soul. By the mid nineteenth century apologist arguments such as those of William Paley could no longer convincingly reconcile science and faith. In Memoriam stands as a work that truly represents the anxieties within the Victorian mind. Queen Victoria once remarked that In Memoriam was her closest consolation, after the bible, following her husband's death. This essay charts the consoling properties of In Memoriam and interrogates the notion of Tennyson as a reinventor of faith for the troubling scientific age.
There is a consensus among critics, such as Matthes and Willey, that Lyell?s Principles of Geology provoked much of Tennyson?s troubling religious doubts that were to be compounded when his dearest friend was robbed from him. Lyell made no explicit challenge to Christian scripture (and indeed made attempts in his work to ensure readers did not interpret his work as such), but his assertion that the Earth?s landscape was shaped by an extremely long and gradual process of weathering presupposed a much greater age for the Earth than was allowed for in biblical chronology. Essentially Lyell?s theories questioned the Christian belief in Divine creation of the Earth over a period of seven days. Lyell?s discussion of the discovery of fossilised remains of extinct animals was perhaps even more troubling because it questioned the existence of a beneficent providential power and the notion of divine superintendence. Principles of Geology was so earth-shattering because essentially it questioned the very validity of euthesitic belief, whether God really does have his eye cast on every sparrow that falls to earth.
Brooke asserts that In Memoriam i...
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...ress to God seems to a critical reader too much like a denial of deep seated doubts through religious immersion.
In Memoriam demonstrates Tennyson?s masterful handle of language to create a fitting tribute to his deceased friend, but his genius lies in transcending this initial subject matter to embrace one at the heart of the Victorian psyche- the challenge of scientific discoveries to deeply held Christian belief. He reinvents faith in the sense that he encourages a different angle to view it from, and encourage a holistic approach to the study of nature in which scientific and religious approaches are not mutually exclusive.
Bibliography
Baldick, Chris: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Brooke, Stopford A: Tennyson: His Art and Relation to Modern Life (London: Ibister and Company Limited, 1894)
Hunt, John (ed.) Tennyson: In Memoriam: A casebook (London: Macmillan, 1970)
Mattes, Eleanor Bustin: In Memoriam: The Way of a Soul (New York: Exposition Press, 1951)
Moi, Torl: Sexual Textual Politics (London: Routledge, 1995)
Willey, Basil: More Nineteenth Century Studies (London: Chatto and Windus, 1956)

Loss has been experienced over centuries and many poets have written on the subject. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 and Alfred Lord Tennyson’s In Memoriam are two poems from different eras that express the idea of loss. Both were written after the loss of a close male friend, and both are only one poem from a series of poems. Shakespeare lived in England where he was born in 1564 and died in 1616 and Tennyson also lived in England where he was born in 1809 and died in 1892, the poems being written

There has been much debate regarding In Memoriam, as to whether the poem depicts a purely heterosexual friendship, or whether it potentially presents us with a relationship that could be deemed more homosexual. It is indeed a love poem, regardless of which type of love it portrays, as it is an elegy that expresses the love, affection, and grief Tennyson held for his dear, deceased friend Arthur Hallam, through metaphors and imagery, with the work closely resembling a private journal or diary. Critics

Imagery in Tennyson's In Memoriam and Arnold's To Marguerite--Continued and Dover Beach
Two poets who used an abundance of nature imagery in the Victorian period were Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Matthew Arnold. In Tennyson's In Memoriam, he utilizes many different aspects of nature as metaphors to describe his emotions after the death of a close friend. Arnold's poetry uses different types of water as metaphors in To Marguerite--Continued and Dover Beach.
In the beginning of Tennyson's poem, he

“In Memoriam A. H. H.,” a large collection of poems written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, is an extended expression of the poet's grief for the loss of his beloved friend Arthur Hallam. The poem takes the speaker on a journey that describes an individual’s struggle through the stages of grief. In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross first proposed five stages of grief which include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance in her book titled, “On Death and Dying.” Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s universal

hero to inform their views of the present.” When it comes to Tennyson’s three pieces In Memoriam, The Lady of Shalott, and Ulysse, three major events happening around him influenced his writing to think one way or another; his friend’s death, the change in the role of women, and perseverance of his country in its old age.
To begin, Tennyson’s work In Memoriam was influenced by Tennyson’s best pal’s death. Weaver stated “In In Memoriam doubt and faith become the key elements in the pursuit of a clear

decided not to publish another poem for the next ten years. When his best friend, Arthur Hallam, who happened to be married to his sister, suddenly passed away, it inspired Tennyson to write masterpieces such as: “In the Valley of Cauteretz” and “In Memoriam A.H.H”. In 1837, he and his family moved to Essex. Tennyson invested his time in wood carving enterprise also. He was not very successful in this. Consequently, he moved to London and resided in Chapel House, Twickenham.
While Alfred was living

childhood was a combination of cooperating with numerous siblings, engaging in a rigorous classical education forced upon him by his father, and an increasing fear of his father's drunken violence and paranoid resentment at the children and wife. Tennyson's fear of inherited madness, what he called “the black blood of the Tennysons”, and his grief for his friend Aurther Hallam, would be with him for much of his life and provide a basis on which he expressed his feelings in poems.
Beginning with Queen

Alfred Lord Tennyson
(an assessment on the events in Lord Tennyson’s)
Start of the Victorian Era, the beginning of the industrial revolution, these were the times in which Alfred Lord Tennyson was born. With a striking good looking beard, Tennyson will be the artist of many thought provoking texts, many texts that will later be argued over and discussed for centuries. “Tennyson has seemed the embodiment of his age, both to his contemporaries and to modern readers,” in the words of Smith. However

imaginings of even a Barthes or Derrida.
What's the advantage of this non-linear type of reading? You might begin to imagine
the benefits of using hypertext by envisaging the effort expended by the average student
struggling with, say, Tennyson's In Memoriam. The legacy of the New Critics still survives
in classrooms today in the stress placed on adroit, close readings of the Text itself—yet both
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students and teachers tend to base their interpretations in part on a knowledge of the

Victorian era. Throughout the rest of his life, tragic events such as the ones in his early existence inspired him to write his poetry. The three texts of In Memoriam A.H.H. the Lady of Shalott, and the poem Ulysses, all have life events behind them that helped inspire Alfred Tennyson to write these poems.
To begin with, the poem In Memoriam A.H.H. a tragic event, such as the ones in Alfred’s early life inspired him to write this poem. According to the British Broadcasting Company’s web site, “Bonekickers”